NSW has more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than any other state or territory in Australia, most of whom live in urban areas. The ABS is committed to developing and delivering statistics in an accessible manner to Indigenous people, and to educate Indigenous communities, organisations and analysts in the effective use of ABS statistics. Nationally this is coordinated through the ABS Indigenous Community Engagement Strategy (ICES). The delivery of the strategy is managed locally by Indigenous Engagement Managers (IEMs) who are responsible for building and maintaining networks with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations, and returning information to them in meaningful ways. The IEMs will play a crucial role in the 2006 Census.

Glenda Roberts and Gloria Strachan are the NSW IEMs. Glenda is the State Indigenous Manager of the Census Management Unit. One of the key priorities for Glenda and her team is to facilitate the accurate enumeration of Indigenous people living in urban areas. Part of this strategy involves employing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Census Field Officers and preparing cross cultural awareness training for other Census staff. Eight positions for Indigenous Census Field Officers were advertised this month. These short term positions (from late February to early October) will be located throughout NSW.

Gloria is helping Indigenous organisations and communities access and use the wide range of ABS Indigenous statistics. This includes distributing summaries of key data from Indigenous surveys, such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS). Summary booklets and posters for NATSISS 2002 are now available from Gloria. She also works closely with other organisations to improve the quality of Indigenous administration datasets and plans to offer statistical training in 2006.